


Lilac Sky

by submarinebunny



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cooking Lessons, Fluff, M/M, Minor Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O, Minor Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 11:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14693523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/submarinebunny/pseuds/submarinebunny
Summary: Junmyeon tries to learn how to cook and bake; things don't go as planned, for better and for worse.[Prompt #92]





	Lilac Sky

“Babe, did you talk to him?”

“Yeah…”

“What did he say?”

“He said he’s happy for us, that it’s about time we took the next step in our relationship… Like I said, we started living together because we couldn’t afford rent by ourselves when we graduated college, but it’s been six years, he has a decent job now, he’s more than capable of paying it by himself, so he assured me that it wouldn’t be an issue…”

“Great!”

“But Baek, that’s not what I’m worried about!”

“Oh, come on, Soo! He’s a grown man! I’m sure Junmyeon-hyung can handle a basic meal by himself!”

“Have you forgotten about the time when he tried to boil pasta and ended up setting the tomatoes on fire?”

“…Okay, maybe he does need some help. OH! You know what I just remembered?”

“The time he put a metal fork in the microwave?”

“What? No! Listen, do you remember Minseok-hyung’s younger brother, Mingyu?”

“I think so… He’s the tall one, right?”

“Yeah, that’s him! So, some time ago Minseok-hyung told me he’d become a professional chef and that he was teaching introductory lessons, you know, kinda like ‘Cooking for Dummies’! What if I sign Junmyeon-hyung and myself up for it?”

“That… actually sounds like a really good idea…”

“Right? I’ll go ask Minseok-hyung about it!”

 

\------------------

 

“Yifan-ge!”

“What do you want, Tao?”

“What, so I can’t be calling to check up on you, be a good friend and all?”

“That’s very unrealistic.”

“Ugh, fine. Look, I have an offer for you.”

“Do you want me to babysit your dog again?”

“No! I’m thinking about your future, my friend! I heard about a ‘Cooking and Baking for Beginners’ course and I think it would be the perfect opportunity for you to improve your non-existent kitchen skills and stop surviving on takeout!”

“A ‘Cooking and Baking for Beginners’ course? Where would you hear about that?”

“Okay, so, remember my cousin Minghao?”

“Vaguely, yeah.”

“Yeah, so it turns out that he has a giant crush on the guy who teaches the course, Chef Kim, I think, and he wants to take it, but he doesn’t want to do it alone, so he’s dragging me with him, and I thought of dragging you as well! Come on, Yifan! You could learn a lot!”

“I don’t know, Tao…”

“Pretty please, Yifan-ge?”

“Do we get to eat the stuff we make?”

“Yeah! I mean, I wouldn’t eat the stuff you make, but hey, maybe by the end of the course you’ll prove me wrong!”

“Ugh, fine. But if you or Minghao laugh at me, I’ll quit!”

“Deal! I’ll text you the info! Bye, ge!”

 

\------------------

 

“Hi, Baek! Soo told me the news! I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks, hyung! I’m really excited about it!”

“I wish you two the best, you know that, right?”

“I do! Hyung, we only want the best for you too, you know? That’s actually why I called you…”

“Oh? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah! Say, do you remember my friend Minseok?”

“I do, yeah! What about him?”

“Apparently his younger brother, Mingyu, is a chef, and he started teaching this ‘Cooking and Baking for Beginners’ course, so I thought it’d be fun to take it and support him, you know? But I didn’t want to go by myself, and Soo isn’t a beginner anymore, so I thought I’d invite you along! How does that sound?”

“I don’t know, Baek… What if I make a fool of myself?”

“Nonsense, hyung! Everyone there is supposed to be a beginner! You’ll do fine!”

“Well… I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“Great! I’ll send you the details right away! See you soon, hyung!”

 

\------------------

 

Junmyeon knew he wasn’t good in the kitchen – he had eaten way too many burnt noodles in his lifetime not to realize that. So, when Baekhyun called him to let him know of a “Cooking for Beginners” course, he thought he’d finally have a chance to redeem himself. They were supposed to be supervised, what could possibly go wrong?

Many things. It began with Baekhyun getting a flat tire on his way to the course, which made him late and left Junmyeon all by himself. Luckily, there was another guy there when he arrived, and he also seemed to be alone. He looked a little closed off from a distance, but he smiled in acknowledgement once he saw Junmyeon, which was enough to prompt an introduction. Junmyeon learned that the man, Minghao, was actually a close friend of Chef Kim, and that he was also waiting for friends who were running late. They kept making small talk as the other students arrived, but by the time Chef Kim asked everyone to pair up for the beginning of the class, neither Baekhyun nor Minghao’s friends had showed up, so they decided to take the first class as a pair.

To be fair, Junmyeon did warn Minghao that he was a bit of a mess when it came to cooking, but he definitely didn’t give his partner the exact dimension of the tragedy. Whenever Minghao got distracted talking to Chef Kim, Junmyeon would do something crazy, like putting uncooked pasta in the empty pot and turning on the heat or adding raw onions to the boiling pasta water “for taste”. When Minghao’s friends arrived, Junmyeon got so distracted by the tallest of them that he left the wooden spoon on one of the burners, which he forgot to turn off. In his defense, though, the man was insanely handsome. What was he supposed to do, not stare at him? Nonsense!

After Chef Kim put Minghao in charge of babysitting Junmyeon and watching his every move, things started to go smoothly. The younger man wouldn’t let him within two feet of the stove, which made it harder for Junmyeon to do anything questionable to the food. By the time they ended, Junmyeon actually enjoyed the dish, even though Minghao said it was average at best. For Junmyeon’s standards, it was stellar.

 

\------------------

 

Minghao had actually really enjoyed his cooking time with Junmyeon. Sure, he was a walking disaster who botched his plan of impressing Mingyu, but he was fun to be around, so much that they even exchanged numbers after the class. Junmyeon had left quickly, before he could be properly introduced to Tao and his friend Yifan.

“Sorry we were late, Hao! You remember Yifan, right?”

“Hi, Yifan, nice to see you! What took you guys so long?”

“I had an emergency at home…”

“He didn’t want to leave Kandy alone for a few hours, that’s what happened.” Yifan intervened.

“Ugh, I knew it!”

“She’s a baby! What if she gets hurt? Oh God, we need to go back right now, Yifan!”

“Relax, Tao, she’s safe!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Whatever. Minghao, who was that guy with you?”

“Oh, his name is Junmyeon, we just met before the class. His friend was supposed to come, but I think he had some issue with his car, so we partnered up for the class, since, you know, my cousin stood me up over a dog.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? And Yifan couldn’t keep his eyes off him, he was even worse than usual!”

“Tao, didn’t you say your dog couldn’t be alone? Why don’t you go see if she’s still alive?”

“YOU THINK SHE DIED?”

 

\------------------

 

When Baekhyun told him he’d have to drop the course after that first day due to some work issues, Junmyeon thought of giving up as well. He was a little embarrassed to go by himself, especially given his less-than-brilliant skills. But then he remembered Minghao’s tall friend, which made him remember Minghao, and so he decided to text him. Luckily, Minghao agreed to be his new partner, under the excuse that Junmyeon needed constant supervision and he only trusted himself for the job.

The next few classes were alright, even though Junmyeon always made a few mistakes. Minghao would laugh at him, but not in a mean way, and show him the right way to do things. Junmyeon learned that his two friends were his cousin, Tao, and Tao’s friend, Yifan. Minghao would tell him about his childhood in China and his friendship with Chef Kim, which didn’t seem just like a friendship to Junmyeon. If the younger man noticed Junmyeon stealing looks at his cousin’s friend, he didn’t show it, and Junmyeon returned the favor by not mentioning his stares at Chef Kim. They worked really well together, even if most of the time Minghao would be trying to fix Junmyeon’s attempts at cooking by himself.

By the end of the third week of the course, Minghao told Junmyeon he wouldn’t be able to attend the class on Friday evening. Apparently, another one of his cousins, Sicheng, was coming to town, and since he didn’t speak Korean, Minghao and Tao would pick him up at the airport and have dinner with him. Before Junmyeon could say he wouldn’t go to class either, however, Minghao mentioned that Yifan would also be alone, telling him the tall guy needed a partner as well.

 

\------------------

 

The minute Chef Kim told them they would be baking a cake, a set of alarms went off in Yifan’s mind. Sure, he wasn’t amazing at cooking, but he could manage doing savory dishes, even if they always ended up too bland or too salty or too spicy or, at one time, all three. Baking, however, was a different story. Baking had always been his archenemy. One of his earliest childhood memories is burning cookies in his friend’s Easy-Bake Oven, back when he lived in Canada. This would be a nightmare, and he didn’t even have Tao by his side to help him out.

No, Tao had been replaced with Junmyeon that Friday.

Under normal circumstances, having Tao, loud, whiny Tao, be replaced with handsome, sweet and lovely Junmyeon would be a blessing from the skies. However, even Yifan’s middle-schooler crush on the short man couldn’t blind him from the fact that Junmyeon was chaos in human form the minute he stepped foot into a kitchen.

The mixing the dough part went by relatively smoothly, even though Junmyeon dropped a few eggshells in the batter. It didn’t taste particularly funny and it didn’t explode when they added baking powder, so Yifan thought it would be alright. They had a few minutes to kill before getting started on frosting, though, and Yifan decided to flirt with Junmyeon in the meantime.

They hit it off right away; Yifan would talk about China and Canada and his favorite places to visit in both places; Junmyeon would tell him about his vacations in Switzerland and Los Angeles, and the time he went to the desert in Dubai; they would talk about their college days and music and Star Wars and all kinds of other topics. As cliché as it sounds, Yifan felt as if he had known Junmyeon his entire life. It was only when Junmyeon mentioned his favorite color that they remembered they were a few minutes late on the frosting part.

The first time they tried making it, Yifan dumped the sugar the minute Junmyeon turned on the stand mixer; there was sugar everywhere except for the mixing bowl. So, they started again, making sure to communicate as they went; except Yifan bumped into Junmyeon and made him drop half a bottle of vanilla extract into the mixture.

“Third time’s the charm!”, said Junmyeon, ever so optimistic. And he was right – everything worked out for them, even the coloring part, turning the bowl a beautiful, soft shade of purple. And then they smelled smoke.

Turns out starting the frosting ten minutes later than expected and then having to start over two times added around 37 extra minutes to their time, and cakes aren’t supposed to be in the oven for 70 minutes or so. Especially not when you set the oven at 260ºC.

After Chef Kim managed to control the situation, he dismissed both of them for the night. Yifan could see that Junmyeon seemed upset, so he suggested going for some ice-cream to cheer him up. By the time they were done with their cones, they sat down in a nearby square.

“You know,” he said, turning to Yifan, “I was actually pretty nervous to show up today. Minghao’s really patient with me, but I know not everyone is like that, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of you… And we ended up getting kicked out of the class… I’m really sorry, Yifan.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Junmyeon! I’m pretty clumsy in the kitchen myself, and what happened today is my fault too!”

“Still, I feel really bad about what happened… Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

“Well… How about agreeing to go on a date with me some time?”

“As long as we’re not the ones cooking!”

Yifan took the opportunity to kiss him right there. It was short and sweet, and in Yifan’s mind it tasted like vanilla extract and purple frosting.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you mods for organizing such a lovely fest!  
> dear readers, i hope you enjoyed this little piece! if you did, please consider leaving kudos and/or comments ^-^  
> have a nice day!


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